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SAN JOSE — Joe Thornton will be sidelined for “several weeks”, possibly longer, with a right-knee injured suffered Tuesday night.

Sharks general manager Doug Wilson said Thornton will undergo an MRI Wednesday to assess the extent of the injury to his right medial collateral ligament . At this point, it’s unclear whether Thornton will require surgery to repair the damage to his right knee.

“It looks like it’s MCL related,” general manager Doug Wilson said. “It looks like he’s going to be out for several weeks, anyhow. Our policy is if it’s more than two weeks, we let you know.”

In other words, Thornton could be out for much longer than “several weeks”, possibly months, depending on what the MRI reveals.

The Sharks alternate captain suffered the injury after Mikkel Boedker tumbled onto his right knee in the last minute of the third period Tuesday night, causing him to buckle. Boedker fell after getting tangled up with Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba.

Thornton suffered a major injury to his other knee on April 2, 2017, requiring offseason surgery to repair damage to his MCL and anterior cruciate ligaments. After playing in four playoff games with tears in his left knee last spring, Thornton returned to the ice in training camp less than five months after undergoing surgery.

The 38-year-old forward has suited up for all 47 of the Sharks games this season, ranking second on the team in scoring (36 points) and goals (13). After struggling early in the season, Thornton’s game started to round back into form around Thanksgiving. He’d collected 26 points in his last 28 games before leaving the ice Tuesday.

“It’s tough,” alternate captain Logan Couture said. “Especially a guy that’s worked so hard to come back from a serious injury. It’s just an innocent play where guys got tangled up. You knew something was wrong when you saw his face on the ice. That guy doesn’t leave a hockey game unless something’s very hurt.

“You feel for him. He’s a guy that loves to play hockey.”

The injury is coming at a particularly inopportune time for the Sharks, who’ve propelled themselves into second place in the Pacific Division, holding a three-point edge over the third place Calgary Flames, by going 5-1-1 since the five-day players’ bye. The Sharks haven’t lost back-to-back games in regulation since the opening week of December.

Although the Sharks produced a 3-1 record while playing four games without Couture (concussion) in December, absorbing the loss of Thornton presents a completely different challenge, especially when he could be out of the lineup for an extended stretch of games.

Despite his age, Thornton continues to center the Sharks top line and serve as the centerpiece of the team’s fifth-ranked power play (22.9 percent). The Sharks are 17-1-3 this season in games where Thornton finds the scoresheet.

“The optimism is with our younger guys, the way they’ve played,” Couture said. “That helps cushion the blow a little bit, but you can’t replace Joe Thornton. You just can’t do it.”

Wilson didn’t rule out the possibility of trying to swing a deal before the NHL’s Feb. 26 trade deadline if the MRI suggests that Thornton will be out for an extended period of time. The Sharks general manager also doubled down on his claim that rising prospects, such as Timo Meier and Kevin Labanc, are off limits in trade talks.

“We’ll process it. Probably not,” Wilson said, when asked if Thornton’s injury will change his approach toward the trade deadline. “But don’t hold me to that. You never know what becomes available as you go forward.”

Thornton, who signed a one-year, $8 million contract with the Sharks in the summer, is a pending-unrestricted free agent.

The Sharks are encouraged by the development they’re seeing from young players, such as Meier, Labanc, Tomas Hertl, Chris Tierney and Joonas Donskoi this season. But DeBoer acknowledged last week that Thornton’s presence in the lineup has allowed the team’s youngsters to play more sheltered minutes.

It’s unclear whether players, such as Meier and Hertl, will be able to maintain their level of play in expanded roles with Thornton on the sidelines.

“The nice thing is that this isn’t happening game No. 5 when we still don’t know what our identity is as a team or what works for us,” head coach Pete DeBoer said. “The young guys have had 40 games to get some confidence and figure out how they can be successful at this level.”

The Sharks should benefit from the pliability in their lineup. DeBoer suggested that he might slide Joe Pavelski into the middle of his line, which would allow Hertl to remain on Couture’s line where he takes the majority of the group’s faceoffs.

But the emotional leadership that Thornton brings to the Sharks locker room is irreplaceable.

Thornton fired up the bench Tuesday by mixing it up with Jets center Bryan Little, he got the boys going in Toronto on Jan. 4 by dropping the gloves off the opening faceoff with Toronto Maple Leafs pest Nazem Kadri and he left an impression with the youngsters on Dec. 4 by sticking up for himself in a fight with Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson.

But DeBoer insists that Thornton can still lead from the sidelines.

“He’s going to be around the room. You’re not going to keep him away from the rink,” the Sharks coach said. “But this isn’t just about Joe Thornton. We have a great leadership group, it starts with our captain Joe Pavelski.

“That leadership void, I don’t see an issue with.”

But keeping Thornton off the ice and in the locker room could be a challenge regardless of what the MRI reveals. Thornton didn’t hesitate to play with tears in his knee last spring and he pushed the envelope earlier this season by returning to game action less than six months after major surgery.